New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-31

with which we arc ACQUAINTED, A particularly
strikiuR instance of this occurs IN the elaborate
study of the approaches to death entitled Ivan
Ilyitoh" In that study Tolstoi really presents an
impossible combination that. namely OF SOUND
mind in moribund bodv His dying man unooreoes
no mental degeneration. but carries DIS oo'ninans
ideas with him even into the death agony ana IN
dying is visited with an illumination wnicn wouid
only be possbIe If the brain entirely unooud-
ad nm to and including the moment Of dissolution.
There ia no truth to human nature IN the study.
The man could not really have had any such expe-
riences Through the greatest decay of his mental
faculties. following physical lesion and discrganlza-
t,on he would have fallen into trains OF thought
would have declined in cerebral activity, would
have lost all his rancors aud biternesses and long
before the end came would have passed into the
apathy of SEMI stupor. No doubt the picture
drawn by TostOi il the more impressive and force
full but it certainly does not derive its power from
its fathfuluess to human nature, being distinctly
an ldealization.
There is room for dispute as to the ethical value
of Tostoi's work. also. The more fully he develops
his religious views, the cruder and more 1mpracti-
cable do they appear. He has made it clear that
he has no exegetical science, but that be gropes
after interpretations with the naivee and often
with the ignorance Of q child. His struggles and
searchings are indeed full of interest. They are
the commissions of powerful if primitive, intelli
renee. They have led HIM to dogmatize
strongly upon imperfecty apprehended facts and
to fall into the capital of believing that oil
ChristendOm for nearly two thousand years has
missed the truths now opened up to his discern
ment alone The ethical significance OF his
earlier which is to say his more artistic, works is
by no means clear easy to discover. 1t may be
49, 49, M ut tad mt
equally true that he often seems endeavOring to
show that the fulfilment of duty must be entirely
independent of expectation of reward and that
line of thought if developed would mako of him
disciple of Marcus Aurelius rather than of Jesus
Christ. His view of life on the whole seems rather
low, and cannot be doubted that this is one cause
of the welcome extended to him by the champions
of the commonplace and of sordd realism. Tolstoi
is not often sordid. but he often sinks below a
healthy level and he is given to imparting trivial
motives to his creatures somewhat disproportion-
ately. These are among his defects, which 1t is
quite as necessary TO record as his excellencies
Regarded coolly and without bias he appears
great but by no means pre-eminent author;
rough, half-formed philosopher Of antique type,
WHO has not Ill q tolerably long lifetime resolved
even primary problems; writer of fiction who
pours out the whole contents of his mind. either
too ndoent or too unpractsed to separate the good
from the bad, the chat from the wheat; an OBJ
server whose perception is keen and his memory
vigorous and faithful; and finally, Russian.
with all the peculiarties Of his nationality added
to personal characteristics which so differentiate
him from the majority Of the race as to render 1T
impossible that he should be, save in exceptional
a true reflector Of emotions and
psychical ex periences common to all.